


Springtime

by Truth



Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari
Genre: M/M, Spoilers, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2006, recipient:Lyan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-26
Updated: 2010-10-26
Packaged: 2017-10-12 21:42:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/129385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truth/pseuds/Truth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The spring brings plum blossoms to the gardens of Saiunkoku.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Springtime

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lyan](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Lyan).



> Many thanks to Frost, Cairnsy and Toxictattoo for poking at this until it resembled a story.

  


## Springtime

  
Fandom: [Saiunkoku Monogatari](http://yuletidetreasure.org/get_fandom_quicksearch.cgi?Fandom=Saiunkoku%20Monogatari)

  
Written for: Lyan in the Yuletide 2006 Challenge

by [Truth](http://yuletidetreasure.org/cgi-bin/contact.cgi?filename=23/springtime)  


Many thanks to Frost, Cairnsy and Toxictattoo for poking at this until it resembled a story.

In early spring, as the frost slowly retreated and warmth became the rule as opposed to the exception, those with the means and leisure hours spent more and more of their time in their gardens or outside the Imperial City. The changing season was celebrated across the city as milder temperatures prevailed.

Kou Kijin disliked spring intensely.

It wasn't that the Chamberlain of the Department of Treasury and Taxation wasn't pleased to see the end of winter's chill. He held no inherent displeasure for the resurgence of growth and life. Even the increased sound of children playing and traffic in the streets did not displease him.

No. Kijin possessed a pretty, if mostly unremarkable, manor that was blessed with a lovely and well-planted garden. In every season of the year it boasted a lush growth peppered with elegant blossoms or still pools surrounded by unmarked snow-cover with deeper green peeping through. Magnolia and camellia, orchids and willow trees.... In the spring, however, the true glory of the garden was evident as it welcomed the changing season with huge drifts of peach and plum blossoms.

Once upon a time, Kijin had loved to see those blooms slowly opening, as if beckoning the spring to come and wake in a bower of scent and color. Now he saw them and fought the urge to have them all ruthlessly cut down. For with the spring and the first appearance of the blossoms came another visitor - one who visited frequently, stayed long and refused to consider other, more suitable places to take his leisure.

A cup of tea in one hand, mask discarded on a nearby table, he looked out at the stretch of garden that opened onto the private rooms of his manor and wondered cynically just how many minutes would pass from the opening of the first bloom to the complete destruction of his peace of mind.

"Houju, can it be springtime already?"

Approximately twenty minutes. A new record, truly. Forcing his jaw to unclench, reminding himself firmly that he was actually very _fond_ of the Chamberlain of Civil Administration, Kijin turned to greet his visitor.

"Reishin, I was just thinking of you...."

Kou Kijin was not the only person thinking of the capricious Reishin while watching the plum trees slowly turn from dark skeletons with pale leaves into splashes of lovely color. Li Kouyuu wasn't observing a tastefully lantern-lit garden from within the comfort of his home, however, but standing in the chill, damp grass within the Imperial compound. The lanterns here were few and far between and used mostly to light the long walk ways that connected the buildings where he spent long hours during the day and the flowered branches themselves seemed to flicker in the shadows.

The plum blossoms that he'd been named for, that so fascinated his immediate superior, were a yearly reminder of where he'd come from. Frequently in the early spring Kouyuu the often lost was found standing beneath one of the scattered and carefully placed plum trees within the Imperial gardens, gazing at the blooms. There was little sting to the reminder now of the words that Kou Reishin had given the scrubby orphan boy staring up at him.

`Adopted on a whim, so that Reishin could experience something that his elder brother had and somehow share and understand it....'

It had taken more than the assurances of Reishin's elder brother himself to bring Kouyuu peace on that head. Logic eventually prevailed, however. If Reishin had truly wanted his brother's family for his own, Kouyuu would not have been an only child - and Reishin's wife would not have lived in quiet exile in the Kou family compound, miles from Reishin and his adopted son. The heart is uncharted territory when your life has been built on logic, however, and when the plum trees bore their scattered rows of flowers, Kouyuu would stand beneath them and wonder....

"You're not lost _again_ , are you, Kouyuu? It's far past time for dinner and to be seeking your bed."

For once, Kouyuu didn't greet his friend's appearance and mild jibe with a snarl, attention still on the delicate blossoms above his head. "There's no comfort in an empty home," he responded absently.

Ran Shuuei paused, almost surprised at the response. He leaned against the railing over the pretty stream, watching the occasional petal drift past the young man below and land in the water to be carried slowly away. After a moment, his memory provided the answer. "Ahhhh. Master Reishin has set up camp in the gardens of his eccentric friend to greet the spring. All the more reason to take advantage of his absence."

That gained him the reaction he'd been seeking as Kouyuu rounded on him with a snarl. "For the _last_ time, I am not going to abuse Reishin's hospitality by bringing _women_ into his home for...."

Shuuei simply smiled at him, waving a hand and speaking over the tirade. "How you jump to conclusions. I was thinking of just a quiet drink and some conversation. You, me... and perhaps our somewhat lonesome Emperor."

Kouyuu's scowl softened, marginally. "He misses them."

"He misses her," Shuuei corrected him, smiling brightly.

The scowl returned, magnified several times. "Misses _them_ ," he emphasized, glaring upward. "Don't give him _your_ motivations."

"There's nothing wrong with my motivations," Shuuei protested mildly, pushing away from the railing and making his way down the bridge and to the path in a leisurely fashion.

Somewhat reluctantly, Kouyuu moved to join him, arms folded and still looking none too pleased. "You're a shameless womanizer," he pointed out. "I see nothing admirable in that."

"But you _will_ open your home to a troubled youth in need of friends and comfort, won't you?" Shuuei gave him a sly glance.

Kouyuu was a distant, often angry young man. Passionate, dedicated and incredibly focused, Shuuei knew very well that he was easily manipulated if you knew which strings to pluck at. It still required a delicate touch, however, and long familiarity had given him that. He waited patiently while Kouyuu sought a reasonable way to excuse himself - knowing that he wouldn't find one and that, really, he didn't want one.

As Kouyuu opened his mouth to offer some hasty diversion, Shuuei smoothly added, "Of course, if you _want_ to try to find your way home... alone?"

Jaw snapping closed with an audible click, Kouyuu swallowed the lie he'd been about to produce and glared darkly. "How are you planning on talking our illustrious emperor into an evening of drink and conversation with us?"

"He said, `Ryuuki, you've been looking all pale and mournful these past weeks and it brings down the entire mood of the Imperial Court. You should come out drinking with us. Here, let me convince Kouyuu that it's in his best interests to provide both the alcohol and the place to drink it in. It will be good for him, too.'"

Kouyuu whirled to find the young man under discussion looking at him uncertainly from just a few feet away. "We wouldn't want to impose," Ryuuki offered, turning a slightly woebegone look on him.

Shuuei raised a hand to hide his smile as Kouyuu sputtered for a moment before managing, "It - it would be no imposition, majesty. I would be honored to have you visit my lodgings."

The bright, winning smile that was given him by the suddenly cheerful emperor had Shuuei swallowing a laugh. Ryuuki wanted to get out of the imperial compound almost as badly as Kouyuu didn't want to take him. The young emperor had a talent for lying and subterfuge as marvelous as Kouyuu's ability to constantly become lost in the most familiar surroundings. Both young men were susceptible to emotional appeals, but Ryuuki was almost as good at pulling Kouyuu's strings as Shuuei was, and with much shorter acquaintance. It was a bit like watching a grasshopper fall into a brook and become almost immediately dragged under before being swept away.

Kouyuu seemed to realize this and turned to give Shuuei a suspicious look, not at all reassured by the bright smile that emerged from behind the young general's sleeve. "Well," he demanded, obviously determined to carry through, despite his misgivings, "are we going, or did you plan to stand here for half the night?"

"We have to change into something less conspicuous," Ryuuki pointed out, hands sketching a gesture over the rather elaborate and ornate clothing that comprised appropriate imperial attire. "But it will only take us a moment. We will meet you in the archives."

Shuuei looked after Ryuuki as the young emperor rushed away, smile widening. "You've made a lonely young man very happy, Kouyuu." He glanced toward his friend, smile acquiring a slight edge. "Doesn't that make you feel better?"

Kouyuu glared at him, but couldn't quite meet Shuuei's eyes. Turning his attention again to the plum tree that he stood beneath, he raised one hand to brush it against a slowly opening blossom.

It had occurred to Shuuei more than once that Kouyuu could do worse than spend more time with others his own age.

Ryuuki wasn't simply lonely, he was isolated and, unlike Kouyuu, his isolation wasn't entirely by choice. Thanks to Kou Shuurei, he was more open now with some of the people that he saw every day, but the Emperor simply wasn't allowed to socialize with those outside his circle of closest advisors and confidents. With the departure of Shuurei and Seiran, that circle had closed somewhat, leaving him with Kouyuu and Shuuei as the only people at court close to his own age and certainly the only ones outside of Shouka who knew what Ryuuki's life had been like prior to his ascension to the Imperial throne.

If Shuuei could not convince his friend to relax and socialize in the ways that Shuuei himself preferred, then another approach was obviously called for. Kouyuu, with his hasty temper and his unexpected moments of sympathy, required careful handling... but he also deserved more than he had. A life devoted to work and to the man who had given him a home and a name was all very well and good and undoubtedly noble, but Shuuei wanted his friend to wear a smile more often.

Long fingers caught a falling blossom and Shuuei looked down at it with a wry smile, wondering what it was that entranced Reishin so about the blooms to the point that he'd give their name to his adopted son. Glancing up, he found Kouyuu still frowning up at the small tree, as if there were some secret hidden in the blossoms that would somehow be revealed if he simply stared hard enough.

He let the delicately tinted petals slip between his fingers before reaching out to tug at the long strands of hair that fell always into Kouyuu's face. "Come along, Kouyuu. Mustn't keep the emperor waiting."

**

Long hair tucked back behind one ear, Kijin sat beside the window. His attention was not on the emerging beauty of the garden, however, but on the man staring raptly out at the trees gently illuminated by small lanterns and the shine of the melting snow on the stones set here and there in the garden. Reishin had the smile of a child when he was truly pleased, and it sat oddly on a face normally so composed.

It irritated Kijin somewhat to see it, especially as Reishin was so dreamily contemplating _his_ garden over a cup of _his_ tea brought by one of _his_ servants. Reishin was always very free with Kijin's possessions, to the point where it was hard to believe the man was a guest and not master of the house.

A desire to see that dreamy façade splinter prompted him to speak, observing in the most casual of tones, "There is a rumor that the Kou family has a new plan to cement its hold on your talented assistant."

The fan which Reishin had been tapping dreamily against the sill of the window came down with a decided `crack'. "They will not have him."

It was far from the first time that Kijin had heard those words, but this time he persisted. "Your younger brother, Kurou, does not seem to be of the same mind. He is determined that Li Kouyuu be brought in to become the head."

"That will not happen." Reishin's earlier, almost smug, calm had evaporated as if it had never been and he turned away from the garden to give Kijin a hard, uncompromising glare. "They have no claim on him, and I will not permit it."

"You have some plan to prevent this, then?"

Reishin's eyes narrowed. "What, precisely, am I preventing? Kouyuu is well aware of the pitfalls of such a path and far too intelligent to believe that accepting such a position will bring anything save sorrow."

Kijin wondered, for an instant, if Reishin were truly ignorant of his youngest brother's proposed course of action. "Kurou has arranged to offer him Shuurei's hand in marriage."

There was a long silence as Reishin stared at Kijin, eyes narrowing slightly in irritation. The sharp _snap_ of the delicate cup in his hand giving way beneath the sudden, tightening pressure of his fingers came as no surprise to Kijin. He reached forward to remove the splintered thing before Reishin managed to drive any of the sharp ends into his hand.

"I will not allow it." There was a calm to Reishin's voice that did not fool his audience.

"If they offer her hand, do you think that he will refuse it? She is the only woman he has shown anything other than disdain for, after all."

" _They_?" Reishin's voice almost cracked on the word.

For an instant, Kijin regretted having begun this conversation, but only for an instant. "Shouka has said that he will not oppose such a marriage."

The wide eyes narrowed as Reishin's expression relaxed back into one of calculation. "I see...."

Not at all the reaction Kijin had been expecting. "You see... what?"

The bemused, smug little smile had returned. "You've a lot to learn about the Kou family yet, Houju. Korou may have stolen a march on me, to be making arrangements already, but I was aware of his plans. Shouka will refuse my darling niece nothing... but neither will he make any promises regarding her future, not now that he has allowed her to follow her dream. He will not oppose such a union - provided it is what she wants."

"You think she will not want Li Kouyuu?" Kijin wasn't sure quite where the conversation was leading, but was determined not to be left behind.

"If she chooses Kouyuu, it will not be to retire behind the closed doors of the family manse and be a silent and obedient wife." Reishin's smile had an edge to it, now. "She will give up her dream for no man... and Kouyuu will not leave my side to become my successor."

"If he is to be your successor, you will already be dead," Kijin felt compelled to point out, fists clenching.

"By that time, Kouyuu will himself be an old man." Reishin made an airy gesture, flicking his fingers at Kijin. "I will not let them have him."

"And if he chooses them?"

Reishin's eyes narrowed again. "He is not so foolish. I would have none of him, were he not too intelligent for such folly. You know my thoughts on that head."

"That you are a selfish, cold-hearted snake who puts his own pleasure before that of others?" Bitterness could be heard in Kijin's tone now, much as he strove to suppress it.

Silence reigned for a brief moment before Reishin stepped away from the window, moving to take hold of Kijin's chin. He stared down into the unmasked face, offering that faint, knowing smile. "That I keep those who I value close at hand."

Kijin had no answer for that, fists tightening again. Reishin's wife lived with his family - that was no secret... the wife that he'd taken when she had tossed Kijin aside - the wife who Reishin never saw outside the bounds of duty.

Reishin's fingers slid slowly against Kijin's skin as he lifted the other man's chin, ignoring the tight set of his jaw. "Come, Houju. The beauty of a spring garden is ephemeral, after all." He released his hold, but did not step away. "You should not waste a moment of it."

**

Kouyuu was uncomfortable taking guests into the main house. Reishin had a large manor, but it would be an intrusion to take anyone, even the emperor, outside of his own quarters.

"... it's like the archives in here!"

Kouyuu growled, but Shuuei took Ryuuki's arm and steered the wide-eyed emperor through the door and into the room. Shuuei was skilled at playing the gracious host, no matter whose house he was in and only long acquaintance with his methods kept Kouyuu from resenting it.

Shuuei was Shuuei and there was simply no helping it.

With a resigned grumble, Kouyuu left his friend to entertain Ryuuki. An investigation of the kitchen revealed that the servants had retired for the evening - yet another sign Reishin had no plans to return home that night. Certainly there was a light left burning for his own return, but long years of association had taught the Kou family servants that Kouyuu preferred to look after himself. Under normal circumstances, the silent, empty kitchen might have depressed him, but Kouyuu had company and there were certain standards to be maintained.

A bit of rummaging brought forth a number of edible bits and pieces. Kouyuu was well accustomed to making his own meals, even if they were no masterpiece of culinary prowess. Shuuei had provided the alcohol, which was a good thing, as Kouyuu drew the line at broaching Reishin's supply.

It wasn't the first time they'd had a drink together here, but it was the first time in months and certainly the first time that Shuuei had decided on inviting a guest. Ran Shuuei was up to something, that much was certain. The only question was... what?

Fifteen minutes later, Shuuei found him in Reishin's study, staring angrily at a stretch of wall, a layered tray of gently steaming tidbits in his hands. "Lost again, and in your own house."

"Shut. Up."

Shuuei ignored him, sliding one arm through Kouyuu's and turning him in place, already heading out the door. "It's this way, oh bearer of delightful food-stuffs." Expertly avoiding the jab of Kouyuu's elbow, he pulled his friend along, back toward Kouyuu's quarters. "Sadly, I've received a message that requires my presence elsewhere."

"You are _not_ leaving me alone with him." It was a mix of positive statement and plea and one that only lasted a moment as Kouyuu's surprised look faded into a frown. "You're not slithering off to the pleasure quarters. Tell me you're not."

"I go where my duty takes me," Shuuei declared, managing to look both noble and slightly smug at the same time. "I leave you with company, however, and enough alcohol to see you pleasantly through the night."

"... first your insane younger brother and now this?"

"It's not as though I'm foisting him off on you for the _entire_ night," Shuuei pointed out, reasonably enough. He showed no remorse at all for the reminder of just how Ryuuren had disturbed Kouyuu's peace of mind. "Just a few quiet drinks, a little gossip about what's going on at court, and that'll be the end of it. Show a little charity, Kouyuu."

Kouyuu flushed and growled a bit more, but ceased his complaints. He felt like a heel for resenting Shuuei's attempts to find him other companionship and even more so when they re-entered his quarters to find Ryuuki sitting quietly amidst the books, hands politely folded and looking more than a little uneasy.

"There wasn't a great deal in the kitchen." Kouyou found himself apologizing as he unearthed the small table usually used by Shuuei when he came to visit and set the tray upon it. "Apparently everyone knew that Reishin would be off staring at Kou Kijin's gardens all night, but I did manage to find one or two things."

The layered tray gave forth an abundance of good smells, although the contents weren't the beautiful display that Shuurei would have produced. Kouyuu looked up in time to see Ryuuki's expression of uncertainty and decided that this was probably a good thing. The last thing the emotional young emperor needed was a reminder of the young woman he'd just sent off to the other end of his empire.

"They're good," Shuuei assured Ryuuki with an easy smile. "Kouyuu simply has no talent for presentation."

"You...."

Shuuei forestalled the explosion by reaching out to pick up what might have been a dumpling and popping it into Kouyuu's open mouth. While his friend chewed furiously, Shuuei continued, "All his training has been in the practical, I'm afraid - substance over style. Go on. Try one."

Thus encouraged, although casting a somewhat dubious look at his host, Ryuuki reached for the tray. A careful bite and even more cautious chewing gave way to a relieved smile. "It _is_ good."

Kouyuu didn't know whether to be pleased or offended.

As Shuuei made his polite farewells to Ryuuki, Kouyuu found where the alcohol had been left and brought it to the table, setting it down with a thump. He grumbled his own good-byes as Shuuei ruffled his hair with fond condescension. The door closed behind Shuuei as Kouyuu found a set of cups and thumped them onto the table as well.

"Here." Filling them, he pushed one toward Ryuuki. "We can drink to absent friends."

Ryuuki's fingers closed around the cup slowly, lifting it with a slightly off-kilter smile. "Or to those who are still with us."

Kouyuu hesitated, realizing that his comment might easily have been taken as a statement of discontent. Ryuuki was well-aware that Shuuei had basically invited them both into Kouyuu's home and then simply disappeared. He forced a smile and raised his glass to the emperor. "To us, then."

Ryuuki drank, setting the cup down after a single swallow. He stared down at the remaining alcohol before asking, "Are we friends, Kouyuu?"

Looking away, Kouyuu frowned. This sort of thing made him uncomfortable, not least because he had very little idea as to what made other people tick when it came to their relationships. "I accepted your flower. Trust given and trust returned."

"Is that all there is to it? Trust?" Ryuuki sighed and slumped down in his chair, resting his chin on the table and staring thoughtfully at his still-almost full cup. "Not that there's cause for complaint. Trust is far harder to come by than sycophants."

"A friend is _not_ a sycophant," Kouyuu snapped, taking another drink. He paused again, thinking about the conversation. "It's... difficult to think of your emperor as a friend."

"You could use the emperor's name," Ryuuki suggested, tipping his head and looking up at Kouyuu. "Seiran and Shuurei do."

"You invited them to," Kouyuu pointed out, although he was relatively certain that Ryuuki had never invited Seiran to use his name. It would be impolitic to point that out, however. Despite his knowing Seiran's true identity, and Ryuuki's awareness of that knowledge, it was safest simply to pretend. No one really wanted the sole surviving Imperial Prince brought back from the safely exiled and presumed dead, least of all Seiran himself.

Ryuuki straightened, chin coming up. "Consider this your invitation."

Thus, nothing less than an order. With a resigned sigh, Kouyuu nodded. "It is an honor... Ryuuki."

"You could sound more honored." Ryuuki gave him a slight frown and reached for his cup. "I should go."

Kouyuu noted wryly that Ryuuki showed no actual sign of leaving. He shook his head, resisting the urge to imitate Shuuei's easy way with their emperor by reaching out and ruffling his hair. "You're welcome to stay." He was almost surprised to realize that he meant it.

**

Kijin rose to his feet with icy aplomb, ignoring how close to Reishin the movement took him. With dark pride, he turned away, stepping toward the window that looked out on the shadowed garden. He managed only a single step before a warm hand wrapped itself around his wrist. Kijin looked back over his shoulder with awful dignity.

"Ah, Houju." Reishin was looking down at the captive hand instead of up at the normally hidden face of his companion. "I should apologize, I suppose."

"But you won't."

"No, I won't." Reishin's fingers tightened momentarily. He looked up at Kijin, smiling faintly. "You would not believe me."

"It would not be true." Kijin removed his hand with a deft twist, but remained staring at his friend with a mix of anger and injured pride.

"No." Reishin agreed. His hand hung in the air for a moment before he withdrew it, smile still tugging at the corners of his mouth. "She did not deserve you," he offered softly, eyes narrowing.

"... and yet you are the one who hides my face from the world." The bitterness in the words had no edge, anger dulled by the passage of time.

Reishin made a gesture with one hand, fan flicking open and then closed again. "I would prevent your suffering such an injury a second time."

"You would prevent my finding someone who could accept me as I am."

"I am preventing," Reishin informed him softly, "a death." Kijin's jaw tightened as Reishin stepped forward, raising one hand to slide his fingers through the dark hair that fell forward over one yellow-clad shoulder. "I cannot marry a second offender, sending her off to exile on the family estates," he confessed softly, still with that faint smile, "without disposing of the first - and I will not allow the breaking of your heart to go unpunished."

**

Neither man was drunk, despite the amount of time they'd sat talking over their cups. Kouyuu remembered their argument clearly. Ryuuki needed to sneak back to the palace and the emperor couldn't possibly be allowed to wander the streets alone at what was now an obscenely early hour of the morning- even if Kouyuu wasn't exactly the bodyguard that anyone with sense would choose.

It was more a matter of propriety than anything else.

He'd won the argument with surprising ease, and the two young men had set off for the palace through the dark and mostly deserted streets. All had been well and they had reached and gained access to the imperial compound with no difficulty... although Ryuuki had been forced to take Kouyuu's arm in order to keep them traveling in the correct direction.

Kouyuu found that he didn't mind that, either. For all the time that he spent working with his emperor, shepherding him through his mountains of paperwork and helping him with his research, there'd been no real social interaction. Shuuei was the one who paid attention to these things and Kouyuu remained content with the status quo. The evening had been surprisingly enjoyable and the fact that Ryuuki wasn't so very different from Kouyuu himself in many ways had come as an equal surprise.

It wasn't until they were both safely outside the emperor's private quarters that Kouyuu realized he would be forced to find his own way home. Ryuuki spoke, but Kouyuu was glancing worriedly left and right, trying to remember which way would lead him back to the main compound.

"Kouyuu?"

"Mmm?" Kouyuu wheeled to see Ryuuki staring at him with a frown that was easily visible even in the faint light shed by the lanterns beside the doors to his quarters. "I'm sorry, I was...." There was no graceful way to say it, and Kouyuu flushed angrily.

Ryuuki hid a smile, understanding suddenly lighting his expression as he repeated his earlier words. "It's late. I could have a member of the guards see you home?"

"I've no need for an escort." It was a declaration of pride and one that Ryuuki had known would come in response to his pro-forma offer.

"I'd be a poor friend," Ryuuki told him, repeating the exact words that Kouyuu had used on him less than half an hour before, "if I sent you out into the streets unaccompanied."

Kouyuu flushed, opening his mouth only to snap it shut again. Ryuuki sometimes made it easy to forget that he was a tactician of no mean skill. To use Kouyuu's argument against him.... The flush faded into a rueful smile. "Shouka keeps a cot in the archives."

"I've slept there myself," Ryuuki admitted, matching the rueful smile, "although not for quite some time now." He hesitated for a moment before letting the smile fade. "That was not quite what I had in mind, however."

There was a moment's silence and Ryuuki watched as Kouyuu's expression moved from amused through confusion to finally arrive again at flushed embarrassment. Eyes wide, he stared at Ryuuki with an expression that mixed amused horror with chagrin.

"Y-you can't... you're not... that's...." He managed to gather himself enough to offer actual indignance. "You're in love with _Shuurei_!"

Ryuuki deflated somewhat, breath leaving him in a long sigh as he looked away. "Shuurei is the one we wish to spend our life with... and she has other responsibilities - other wishes." He looked back at Kouyuu, expression grave and a little sad. "When the person at the center of your life has other dreams, you become lonely."

It wasn't a rhetorical comment or even a purely personal one and Kouyuu froze, taken by surprise. He knew that feeling, knew it _well_....

**

Kijin stared at Reishin, chin held at a defiant angle. "The state of my heart is none of your business."

"That," Reishin corrected him gently, "is where you are entirely wrong." He let the long, dark hair slip between his fingers as he turned away, moving back toward the window. Staring out at the shadowed trees, he murmured, "There is no point in having power if you cannot use it... and I choose to use it to defend the things which I value most highly."

"I am not a _thing_ ," Kijin grated out, fists again clenching angrily.

"You're not a thing," Reishin agreed, eyes still fixed somewhere in the middle distance, attention lost in the shadows between the flower-laden branches. "But you are precious to me, Kijin. I will not allow you to be discarded a second time."

It was nearly impossible to hold to his anger, despite Reishin's outrageous and domineering attitude, and Kijin felt a resigned sigh building somewhere inside. He bit it back, however, glancing instead at the row of masks hanging on the wall - the masks that Reishin constructed and painted to hide the beauty that had driven away the woman Kijin had loved.

"You have an odd way of showing it," he pronounced finally, hearing the resignation in his voice and the acceptance that accompanied it.

Reishin looked back over his shoulder with a small, wry smile. "You are an unconventional man, Houju. It seems only fitting."

Kijin met the smile with a shake of his head, staring past his guest into the darkened garden. "What do you see when you stare at the plum trees?" he asked suddenly.

"Not `what', Houju." Reishin looked back out at the blooms himself, smile suddenly blossoming into one of true pleasure. "Who."

**

"Your Majesty," Kouyuu bit back the words hurriedly as Ryuuki winced. "Ryuuki, I don't think...."

"You do. You think constantly." Ryuuki shook his head, not meeting Kouyuu's eyes. "That's the difficulty, I think. You never relax enough to let go, even when you want to. There's always something holding you back. Pride, expectations or the need to feel yourself worthy... you concentrate so hard on being the person you think you should be that you lose yourself."

Kouyuu flushed again, temper rising only to fade again as the undeniable truth of Ryuuki's words sank in. "If that's supposed to be a metaphor...?"

"It's just a guess." Ryuuki shook his head. "Trust, Kouyuu." He glanced up, an unhappy smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "If you can't trust me to tell you the truth, who _will_ you listen to?"

Shuuei's name was on the tip of Kouyuu's tongue, but it refused to be spoken. Ran Shuuei was a slippery creature, and Kouyuu trusted him implicitly. Sometimes.

"Ryuuki, that's entirely different."

"Is it?" Ryuuki's awkward smile refused to be banished. "You should spend a little time not thinking, Kouyuu, not worrying about consequences or disappointments." He reached out a hand, palm up. "Stay with me, Kouyuu. Let go, just for a little while."

"I - I'm sorry." Kouyuu looked away.

There was a brief pause and the rustle of fabric as Ryuuki's arm dropped again to his side. "As am I."

A moment later, the soft sound of a closing door let Kouyuu know that he was alone. He stood silently in the pool of flickering light cast by the lanterns and tried to work his way through what had just passed between them, coming up only with a tangled sense of embarrassment and confusion.

Unhappily, he turned away, heading for the Imperial Archives.

Quite some time later, Kouyuu found himself again standing beneath the spreading branches of a plum tree, the blossoms almost invisible in the flickering, far-off glow of the lanterns along the bridge. He'd been carefully manipulated tonight, and not just by Shuuei. He was used to the feeling, but that did not mean he enjoyed it overmuch. Everyone had their own ideas of what it was that he needed and all of them pushed and pulled him toward that perceived goal, none of them pausing to consider that needs are not necessarily wants.

All of Kouyuu's relationships had been thrust upon him, one way or another. Reishin's seemingly impulsive adoption of a ragged street boy; Shuuei's almost casual declaration of friendship for a brusque, uncomfortable, fellow-examinee; Shuurei's request for a tutor.... Ryuuki had been correct when he'd speculated that Kouyuu spent far too much time in abstract thought. His life was dedicated to a goal and almost everything else had been set by the wayside in pursuit of that goal.

The `almost' could probably be laid at Shuuei's door... as could this entire episode, now that he looked back on it more carefully.

"Lost again?"

Kouyuu didn't look away from the grey shadows that were all that could be seen of the riotously blooming plum blossoms. "No."

Thanks to Shouka, Kouyuu was well aware of the emperor's fear of the dark. Thanks to Shuurei, he knew that Ryuuki could overcome it at will, however much he might dislike the necessity. He reached upward, letting his fingers graze one of the tiny, just-opening blossoms, seen only dimly in the dark, and felt a faint, rueful smile tug at the corners of his mouth as Ryuuki joined him beneath the tree.

"You're just... looking at the plum blossoms. In the dark?" Ryuuki gave him a slightly confused look.

"No." Kouyuu let his hand fall, turning to look at Ryuuki. "I was thinking."

Ryuuki met his gaze, uncertain as to the reason for that smile. The expression was not one often seen on Kouyuu's face. "Thinking of what?"

"Trust," Kouyuu admitted, beginning to feel uncomfortable again. "And loneliness."

A thoughtful look was shot in the direction of the dimly visible plum tree before Ryuuki looked back at Kouyuu. "Trust," he echoed, a matching smile gently curving his lips. "It's a good place to start."

   
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